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January 19, 2017

Depressing News: Remy Signs Multi-Year Contract With NESN

NESN announced that Jerry Remy has signed a new multi-year contract with the network to provide analysis for Red Sox games. While the length of the contract was not specified, NESN stated that Remy would work 115 Red Sox games per season.

This news depresses me. When Remy was working with long-time play-by-play man Don Orsillo, he coasted for many seasons, offering little more than a description of the various replays, sometimes actually repeating Orsillo's play-by-play word-for-word. From the comments he would make during games, Remy gave the impression of never having prepared for a broadcast.

NESN let Orsillo go after the 2015 season, replacing him with Dave O'Brien, and Remy began the 2016 season newly energized. Indeed, it was almost shocking how engaged he was. He enlightened listeners with numerous insights and opinions on many aspects of the game (he even did some on-field interviews!), an entertaining and informative improvement but also one that could not help but expose the fact that he had been mailing it in for several years. (Either a NESN executive pointedly told him that it was about time he actually earned his salary or perhaps Remy saw the writing on the wall re Orsillo and worried about his own future employment.)

Whatever the reason, the New Remy did not last. Within perhaps one month, I felt he had fallen back on his old habit of saying what even the most casual fan could see on the screen - "he puts the bat on the ball and hits it into left field" - rather than adding something worthwhile to the broadcast. And now that Remy has signed a multi-year deal, I see no reason why he would bother to push himself and put in the effort when he knows he can get away with doing less.